Element Calcium - Ca

Comprehensive data on the chemical element Calcium is provided on this page; including scores of properties, element names in many languages, most known nuclides of Calcium. Common chemical compounds are also provided for many elements. In addition technical terms are linked to their definitions and the menu contains links to related articles that are a great aid in one's studies.

Levels In Humans:Note: this data represents naturally occuring levels of elements in the typical human, it DOES NOT represent recommended daily allowances.

Blood/mg dm-3: 60.5

Bone/p.p.m: 170000

Liver/p.p.m: 100-360

Muscle/p.p.m: 140-700

Daily Dietary Intake: 600-1400 mg

Total Mass In Avg. 70kg human: 1 kg

Who / Where / When / How

Discoverer: Sir Humphrey Davy

Discovery Location: London England

Discovery Year: 1808

Name Origin:

Latin: calx, calcis (lime).

Abundance of Calcium:

Earth's Crust/p.p.m.: 41000

Seawater/p.p.m.: 390

Atmosphere/p.p.m.: N/A

Sun (Relative to H=1E12): 2240000

Sources of Calcium:

Obtained from minerals like chalk, limestone & marble. Very abundant. Makes up 3.5% of crust. Occurs only in compounds. World production in 2000 was around 112,000,000 tons (CaO). Calcium is mined almost everywhere.

Uses of Calcium:

Used for dehydrating oils, decarburization and desulfurization of iron and its alloys, getter in vacuum tubes. Also used as an alloying agent for aluminum, copper and lead, a reducing agent for beryllium and used in fertilizer, concrete & plaster of paris. Calcium is an essential component shells, bones, teeth and plant structures.

Additional Notes:

Calcium was prepared as lime by the Romans under the name calyx in the 1st century A.D., but the metal was not discovered until 1808. Berzelius and Pontin prepared calcium amalgam by electrolizing lime in mercury. Davy was then successful in isolating the impure metal. Why did it take so long? Calcium is the fifth most abundant metalic element in the earth's crust, but is never found in the elemental form because it is so reactive. It is found in limestone (CaCO3) gypsum (CaSO4. 2H2O) and fluorite (CaF2). Pure calcium is a shiny soft metal that will react violently with water to produce hydrogen.

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